Ueda Family Residence Annex

An Annex with a View

The Ueda Family Residence Annex (上田家住宅離れ) is a two-storey timber annex of 1940 in Higashi-Toyonaka-cho, Toyonaka City, Osaka Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on August 13, 2012 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It was extended in 1994.

The Agency records a timber building of 2 storeys under a hip-and-gable roof of pantiles, with a building area of 58 square metres; registration number 27-0551.

A Sukiya Lower Floor and a Sunroom Above

The Ueda Family Residence Annex stands to the east of the main house (Agency for Cultural Affairs). On the lower floor, facing the main house, is its own entrance under a small hip-and-gable roof.

Outside, the lower floor is faced in cedar bark, and inside it is finished in the sukiya manner, the refined, rustic style of the tea house. The upper floor is a modern contrast: a sunroom with bay windows. One small building thus stacks two quite different rooms, a Japanese retreat below and a bright glazed room above.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency describes the Ueda Family Residence Annex as an annex that looks out over the residential estate, and registered it for its contribution to the historic landscape. Set on a hilltop plot, it looks out over the surrounding houses.

Its combination of a sukiya lower floor and a modern upper floor shows how a suburban annex could be built in 1940.

What to Look For

Look for the contrast between the cedar-bark walls of the lower floor and the bay windows of the upper floor (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The small hip-and-gable porch on the side facing the main house shows how the annex was given its own way in.

The Agency record does not say which part of the building the 1994 extension covers.

Visiting

No official information on visits was found. The house may still be lived in, so please stay off the property and look only from the street.